Oakington Church of England primary school in Oakington, which is a few miles out from the city, requires 'significant improvement' to protect children from harm, according to inspectors after visiting in early July this year.

The report shows the school, which has more than 130 pupils, has dropped in standards after receiving a 'good' rating in late 2014.

Inspectors found that, among the many problems at the school in Water Lane, parents and pupils lacked confidence in the school's ability to tackle bullying incidents - with some reporting that bullying persists too long after being reported.

Among three quarters of the parents who responded to Ofsted admitted the school is not well led and managed.

A similar proportion say that leaders do not respond effectively to concerns about behaviour and bullying. Some parents also express concern about the quality of communication from the school.

A large minority of staff have also reported concerns about the school, with some stating they are not treated with fairness and respect.

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Ofsted

'Safeguarding children is not effective'

Inspectors found the leadership have not "successfully created a culture of effective safeguarding".

It reads: "Systems and procedures for safeguarding pupils and promoting their welfare are not effective.

"Procedures within school for reporting and recording concerns about children are not always followed.

"In some cases, the reporting of concerns has been very slow, and in others it has not occured.

"In addition, leaders have not consistently referred concerns to the appropriate authorities."

The report adds that the management of the information about safeguarding concerns or pupils' welfare is "not good enough".

Inspectors found that some pupils and parents lacked confidence in the school's ability to tackle bullying incidents quickly and effectively.

"Some pupils report that bullying persists for too long after it has been reported in school," according to the report.

"Almost 25 per cent of parents who responded to Ofsted's online questionnaire do not agree that their children are well cared for, and over 40 per cent disagree that the school deals effectively with bullying."

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Education

'Inaccurate records'

Communication with parents, carers and the appropriate authorities was not recorded accurately - or sometimes not at all.

As a result, leaders' and governors' evaluations of safeguarding, behaviour and welfare of the children are not accurate - because they've not got the information to understand the full picture.

Inspectors also criticised the school's ability to log incidents.

The report read: "Leaders have not established effective arrangements for logging incidents of poor behaviour and bullying or making the link between some minor injuries which occur and the behaviour which has led to them.

"This prevents leaders from responding effectively to patterns of poor behaviour and, in some cases, informing parents about problems which arise and how their child was hurt."

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'Parental concerns'

Ofsted also found that leaders were not communicating with parents efficiently - because of the inefficient systems in place.

The report read: "Leaders have not successfully established suitable systems for recording and handling parental concerns.

"Consequently, leaders are often unable to respond to parental concerns effectively or in a timely manner."

Important changes in the academic year took place after it federated with Dry Drayton Primary School in January 2018 - which meant that the headteacher became the executive headteacher of two schools and worked in both.

Many parents and staff lost confidence from then on.

"Almost three quarters of the parents who responded to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View, disagree that the school is well led and managed," the report said.

"A similar proportion disagree that leaders respond efficiently to their concerns, including those about behaviour and bullying.

"Some parents express concern about the quality of communication from the school, which they describe as routinely inaccurate and unhelpful."

The report added that a "large minority of staff" report concerns about the school.

Half of the staff that responded to the Ofsted questionnaire did not agree they are treated "with fairness and respect".

Almost half disagreed that the school is well led and managed.

Similarly, a third disagreed that leaders supported staff well in "managing behaviour".

'Strengths in other areas'

The report highlighted that while safeguarding was an important issue that needed "significant" improvement - leaders had successfully improved the quality of pupils' progress through good teaching.

"Leaders, including the deputy headteacher and subject leaders, have demonstrated strengths in other areas of their work since the previous inspection," the report said.

"Following a sharp decline in key stage 2 progress in 2017, leaders, governors and staff have successfully focused on improving teaching, particularly in reading and writing.

"Because of this improvement, pupils' progress is good in those subjects and in maths."

The report goes on to highlight the successes, including initiatives that have strengthened the teaching of reading, writing and maths.

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Things to do in Cambridge

What does the school have to say?

Since the Ofsted visit, the school has made changes to its leadership, appointing Oriana Dalton - who the school said is an experienced head with an outstanding record for leadership - as interim executive headteacher, and Mr Nathan Clark as acting head.

In apologising for the outcome, the chair of governors, Edmund Buss, said: "We are very disappointed that our school has been rated as inadequate.

"We were aware of areas that needed improvement, and were working on them, but the extent of the failings was not apparent to governors, staff or our external advisors.

"In this sense we are grateful that they have been highlighted, and we will do whatever is necessary to ensure that they are addressed in an effective and timely way.

"The recent changes in leadership structure have already had an impact and we are confident that they will quickly deliver the improvements needed to bring the school to the high level of excellence and attainment that we expect."